‘One Piece’ reveals the truth behind JoyBoy: Nika’s real identity, and his relationship with Luffy

We have been wondering the same thing for over two years since the Gear 5 was discovered. Are Luffy, Nika, and JoyBoy the same person? Are they the Holy Trinity of manga? And more importantly, has the Straw Hat stopped being the perfect mix of luck, effort, and will to become another protagonist supported by genetic inheritance and destiny?

When Luffy’s heart stopped during the battle with Kaido, just before his Devil Fruit awakened... what happened? The one who smiles in a Machiavellian way when he is in Gear 5 mode... Is it still Luffy or is it someone else? Because there were those who even theorized that the demon inside Gomu Gomu / Hito Hito fruit took over him and became JoyBoy.

Since then we have seen many people call Luffy “JoyBoy”, but Eiichiro Oda had not delved into the mystery of his identity until now, in chapter 1,114 of the manga. The final panels of said chapter shed light on another of the great mysteries of ‘One Piece’ and, according to them, no, Luffy, Nika, and JoyBoy are not the same person. They are three different people, who all had the same power, “a body that stretched and contracted”.

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The oldest of the three is Nika, a giant who was called “the God of the Sun”. They came from Elbaf and it is very likely that the story arc that will show us said island will be inspired by Norse mythology, so it’ll surely has a lot of references to divinities and analogies of concepts like Yggdrasil in store for us. Dorry and Broggy will surely tell us more about themselves on the way, and if not, perhaps the famous character who has been resurrected 800 episodes later and angered fans.

In any case, the fact that it is a giant would explain, for example, the existence of the giant straw hat in front of which we saw Imu, the latest villain of ‘One Piece’, and agrees with what Who’s Who told us in Wano.

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For its part, JoyBoy was the first pirate in history. A key figure of the Void Century who dates back over 800 years and raises many questions. What was once understood by pirate? Going to sea and that’s it? And if the Five Demons of the Gorosei haven’t aged since then, who tells us that they weren’t also buccaneers and rivals of JoyBoy? What’s more, could it be that they are nervous because Imu is actually JoyBoy? Maybe what they fear is that the message sent by Vegapunk is that the world could discover that behind the Navy and the World Government, there has always been a pirate.

It’s a crazy theory, but the same thing was said about whoever predicted that JoyBoy would be the first pirate... more than three years ago! The ‘One Piece’ community is almost as big as the manga. In any case, it is likely that, unlike Nika, for which we will have to wait until Elbaf, part of the story of the first pirate will be told to us in chapter 1115 of the manga (before which there will be a small pause, unfortunately). What could be that technologically advanced kingdom that Vegapunk speaks of?

And what does Luffy have to do with all this? Well, luckily (or maybe as part of Shanks’ plan), the Straw Hat has ended up gaining the same power as the other two and aims to achieve even greater feats than theirs. What if JoyBoy had been the first pirate, Gol D. Roger the best and most important, the greatest exponent of that great era of piracy of which Luffy would be destined to be the last pirate?

How can it become the last one? Maybe ending the Red Line and preventing the world from sinking into the sea, just as Vegapunk has predicted. Or ending the persecution of pirates, with that vision that they are bad and they are dedicated to theft and murder, for this, ending the Marines. Who knows? Until further notice, all kinds of theories and possibilities are open.

As always, there’s only one word to describe what’s happened since the series finale was announced, we arrived at Egghead, and the story kicked into high gear: Goda.